Scunthorpe's manager Russ Wilcox would 'hate it' if they continued to go unbeaten but finished outside the top three in League Two. Photograph: Pete Norton/Getty Images

It is not often that Scunthorpe United are compared to Arsenal. Even now, after a 24-match unbeaten run, any similarities between the Iron's campaign and Arsenal's "Invincibles" season of 2003-04 are laughed off.

"They were a million miles away from where we are," says Russ Wilcox before Saturday's League Two trip to bottom-club Torquay United. The Scunthorpe manager is correct but their and his achievement this season is remarkable in its own right, having embarked on an extraordinary run, drawing 12 and winning 12, since he was appointed on 20 November.

Last weekend's goalless draw against Wycombe Wanderers broke a 125-year-old Football League record. From the kick-off of the Football League's inaugural season in 1888-89 until the second game of the next campaign, Preston North End went 23 games unbeaten under William Sudell. Wilcox now holds the record for the most league games unbeaten from the beginning of a managerial reign.

With six games left United are second, trailing Rochdale by two points but the same margin ahead of third-placed Chesterfield in the last automatic promotion spot and seven clear of fourth-placed Fleetwood. Since Wilcox was appointed caretaker manager, after the departure of Brian Laws, Scunthorpe have climbed from mid-table mediocrity to title contenders.

Wilcox was given the managerial reins full time on Christmas Eve, having previously spent his career as an assistant, and the former defender says instilling confidence in the squad was his first task.

"The players were just lacking a bit of belief in their ability. I gave them a little more belief, ownership and freedom on the pitch," he says. "We're just hoping to keep the run going. I don't think there has been a point where we all thought: 'Wow, this is amazing.' You go on a run and you obviously want to keep it going for as long as you possibly can.

"The main thing is that we get promoted. If we lose a game or there are a couple of hiccups along the way but we still achieve promotion that's great. I'd hate it if we continued to go unbeaten but didn't manage to get in the top three.

"When you get to 24 games and there are only six games left, going unbeaten until the end of the season does become a realistic target. If you'd have said that when I took over I would have said you were crazy but now it does become a realistic target."

For Scunthorpe, there has been little to celebrate in recent seasons. Relegation from the Championship in 2011 was followed by an 18th-place finish in League One and then relegation the following year. Yet Wilcox has utilised the experience in his squad – including Deon Burton, Paddy Madden and David Syers – to good effect.

The impressive nature of Scunthorpe's unbeaten run is reflected in the fact that they have rarely been threatened by defeat since November. The 3-2 comeback victory over Accrington Stanley in February, that included a 90th-minute winner with the team 2-0 down at half-time, represented their biggest hurdle, but Wilcox is still urging caution with 18 points to play for.

"We haven't got carried away and I think that's why the run has gone on so long. If you get too excited you can come a cropper. Once we got to double figures people started mentioning Nigel Adkins' great run of 19 games unbeaten in the 2006-07 season. You have half an eye on that but it really is one at a time.

"You're thrown in there as caretaker with a remit of two games and you just want to do your best for the club. Then you get a taste and it goes from there. I can't believe it's 24 games later, it has absolutely flown by.

"We have had three difficult seasons. It's been a tough period for the club and now we're just hoping to give the supporters something to smile about. The bigger picture is promotion. It's a massive achievement whatever happens this season but we need to make sure that we marry it with promotion."

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